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Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003) - (Blu-ray)
I have to say that about a year or so ago I had the chance to watch “Ong-Bak” for the first time. I had heard of the film before, but it was just something that I hadn’t crossed paths with since it was released theatrically. I remember the movie looking like a new school version of Kung-Fu films I had seen literally a thousand times over, this time with a new star (Tony Jaa) taking the lead. The main selling point that I missed during it’s theatrical run is that the film boasts no CGI, no wire work displaying a “what you see is what you get approach” to this type of film. This is a reason alone to see the movie, but there is more there than just that.
“Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior” is centered around a small village in which a man name Ting lives. He’s taught the art of Muay Thai and is sworn to never use it. Then a man named Don shows up in the village to buy an artifact, only to be turned away by it’s possessor resulting into him pulling a job and stealing the head of Ong-Bak a sacred Buddah statue in the village. Once this happens the land is changed and the people are suffering, they look to Ting to go and get the head back for them and their land. Now he must find Don, the head and avoid being killed in Bangkok to get it back.
Although the plot of the film sounds much deeper on paper it’s pretty thin overall, but that was no problem to me as I saw this one for what it was. It’s a kick ass flick that is paced very well and is nothing more than an ultra exciting fight flick that stands on the mountain as something very unique. Like I said earlier there is no CG in this film, no wires, and no stunt men subbing in for Tony Jaa. This makes the film that much more impressive as the fights in the movie are as impressive as I’ve ever seen captured on film. Bottom line is that Jaa is one of the baddest men on the planet and I have no idea if he could kick serious ass or not. The fact of the matter is that Jaa can do some extremely impressive things and this film is basically a vehicle for him to do so.
As far as the technical aspects of the film go, it features some excellent cinematography by Nattawut Kittikhun that really adds to each of the fight sequences. The movie has a pretty cool look and style that I would assume would be credited to director Prachya Pinkaew (which he would go on to show again in films like “The Protector” and “Chocolate”). The only thing that annoyed me about the film was the constant “replaying” of what just happened even though it’s only there for effect. Effect or not it’s something that becomes a bit distracting and would have been perfectly fine if it wasn’t done so many times during the movie.
The movie also indulges itself in some campy moments like the boss man who smokes cigarettes out of the hole in his throat and talks with an electric voice device, and of course all of the characters that Ting runs to in the underground fighting ring. This gives the movie some character that it needs and with these things all in place this one is a guaranteed good time flick.
The Blu-ray itself isn’t all that impressive with a murky looking picture that just didn’t measure up to what I was expecting. When I originally saw the film on DVD I thought that everything with it looked fine, but I can’t really recommend that anyone go pick this one up if you already have the DVD. There is some information on the Blu-ray telling you about the fact that everything has been remastered in high definition, but sadly the movie just didn’t look all that impressive. There was a lot of grain in the darker scenes in the film as well as a clear lack of definition during scenes as well. The sound does come off a lot better than the picture, but I would have to say that has more to do with the soundtrack of the film itself as opposed to what is there on the surface. Basically there is a lot of hip hop music in the film, which sounds great on the Blu-ray, but the subtleties simply aren’t there to impress.
The disc also comes with special features such as a Live Tony Jaa and Stuntmen Performance which was filmed after the French premiere of the film. There’s also one called “The Movements of Muay Thai” which basically illustrate some of the memorable moves from the movie. A music video with Tony Jaa and an accompanying making of said video as well. It has a humorous promo video with The Rza of the Wu-Tang Clan, excerpts of some stunts in the film, as well as the teaser trailer, a trailer with RZA, the Thai version (both the full trailer and teaser) and the French teaser and full trailer as well.
Overall I would have to say that if you’ve never seen it before, then it might be worth the pickup, especially for the right price. If you already have it on DVD, then just watch it on your widescreen TV and that should be enough. The Blu-ray was alright, but is just lacking in too many categories for me to recommend.
Rating - ***
Blu-ray rating - **
-Ed Demko
